Vale Lorraine Marwood

Vale Lorraine Marwood (1953–2026). A poet, novelist and teacher with the kindest and most generous spirit. You will be missed.

Lorraine Marwood published several children’s novels and collections of poetry through her life, winning the inaugural Prime Minister’s Literary Award for children’s fiction in 2010 for her novel Star Jumps. Her 2018 verse novel with UQP, Leave Taking, was the joint winner of the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, Patricia Wrightson Prize for Children’s Literature and was shortlisted for the 2019 CBCA Book of the Year, Younger Readers and the Queensland Literary Awards, Children’s Book Award. Lorraine's second book with UQP, Footprints on the Moon, was shortlisted for the 2022 Book Links Award for Children's Historical Fiction.

Lorraine loved the written word and the power of poetry to unlock children’s imaginations. She was a keen gardener and crafted beautiful bookish keepsakes. She adored her family and always had a giggle at the ready.

Lorraine lived in regional Victoria and the importance of the natural world, and of being fully present to experience the wonder of it, was never lost on her. Her warm legacy lives on through her family, her books and all those whose lives she touched.

From Leave Taking

“I walk to touch each hand-planted tree:

red gum, sugar gum, melaleuca,

bottlebrush, wattle. Mum grows all these trees

for farm shelter,

bird shelter,

ladder steps to the sky

for me.

Some trees hold my history:

my growing-up falls,

my tree house skills.

I touch the scars left by my building

and climb my favourite

tree just for fun.”